Path of the Hokage
by Z-ro
Summary: AU One shot: Sasuke's fight with Itachi was interrupted by a brash Naruto. Sasuke now follows Jiraiya on his search for Tsunade, their new Hokage and Naruto finds his dream passed to his friend.


Disclaimer: This is my little disclaimer for not owning anything since its all characters that were written already.

Path of the Hokage

Naruto looked around the man Sasuke called brother. The blonde tried to move forward, but Jiraiya gripped his shoulder. Kisame had his sword raised to Ero-senin's face. "You heard him. This is a battle between the two of them. Let's not interfere."

Naruto felt the next minute was the hardest of his life. Sasuke told him not to interfere, Kisame's sword ate his chakra, and Jiraiya was holding him back. Sasuke fell to the ground again. Naruto sucked in a breath of air when Itachi knelt down to the ground. Itachi picked up the younger Uchiha. "You don't have enough hatred."

Naruto had enough. "Stop it! You'll kill him." Kisame gave a smirk. Naruto charged around Jiraiya. The old man swore and tried to reach after his student. The few seconds of Jiraiya's inattention was all the time Kisame needed to give three swings at Jiraiya's distracted body. One to the neck to weaken his legs, another to his gut to weaken his body, and the third to his head leaving a bleeding scalp to the rear of the old man's head. Naruto turned in time to see Jiraiya fall. The demon container looked at Itachi who had not turned his attention away from his brother. Naruto looked at the two men and screamed. "Let him go, I'll go along with out a fight."

Kisame gave a chilling laugh. "What is to stop us now from taking you." Kisame smirked at the down form of the boys' teacher.

Naruto smirked uneasily. "Nothing. But at least a living Sasuke will slow Jiraiya down when he wakes up." Kisame's smirk fell when the man stirred slightly.

"Itachi." Kisame growled in frustration.

Itachi let go of his brother. "I know, someone is coming upon us." Sasuke glared at Naruto and Itachi.

"This was my fight." He uttered in a weak voice. Naruto walked past Itachi and Kisame not fearing the two now that he knew his own fate. Naruto gave a half smile to Sasuke as he swore at the blonde. "Damn you."

Naruto knelt to his teammate and friend. "Sasuke you said you had two ambitions." Sasuke stopped his rant. He looked at Naruto. "You were about to fail them both." Sasuke looked away from the blonde. "Sasuke." The Uchiha looked at his teammate never hearing him sound so calm and mature. "I want to ask a favor." The boy stared but nodded. "Restore your clan. Then go after your brother. So then at least you know there will always be an Uchiha to leave your will to." Sasuke felt tears in his eyes. This Naruto didn't sound like the one Sasuke knew. "And…" Naruto paused before looking at the two men walking towards them. Naruto gave Sasuke a final smile. "Become a good Hokage in my place." Naruto stood up and walked to the two Akastuki. "Sasuke, you deserve the truth." Naruto looked at his teacher. "Tell Jiraiya sensei thanks, and he should be the one to tell you..." At that moment Itachi placed his hand on Naruto and the boy fell into unconsciousness'.

Itachi gave his brother one final look before he and his partner left. Sasuke struggled to stand and collapsed on his knees again. "What did the dobe mean take his place." A hundred questions passed over the young Uchiha's mind before he finally crawled to the downed form of Jiraiya. Sasuke looked at the old man. "This is Naruto's teacher." Sasuke leaned against the wall. He had never thought about Naruto being trained by anyone other than Kakashi. But he knew his teammate needed to. Kakashi helped train him since the Chuunin exam. The man was still bleeding. Sasuke growled at his broken hand and wrist. He pulled a kunai and cut off his shirt and used it to bandage the old man's head. It wasn't much of a bandage but it was slowing the bleeding.

Ten minutes passed before a man wearing a green jump suit much like Rock Lee's stood over the two of them. He looked at Sasuke then turned to the older man. "Can you walk?" Sasuke stood on uneasy legs. Mito Gai nodded before picking up Jiraiya. "Let's get you two to a hospital."

The two ninja were lucky a medical ninja was deployed in the town. Sasuke sat in a chair out side of the old man's room. The man who called himself Mito Gai said he needed to speak to the old man now that he was awake. Sasuke had the heels of his feet bounce against the balls of his feet. He hated sitting still. He rotated his once broken wrist in silent acknowledgement in how powerful medical ninja's were. He had thought he would have had it placed into a single after getting it healed. The ninja in town was skilled and said that the boy's wrist would be fine as long as it wasn't taxed too severely.

Mito Gai walked out of the room and gave one look at the Uchiha. "We need to return to Konoha. I should have left you two behind as soon as I heard Naruto was taken. The two-hour delay will be harsh."

Sasuke stood. "Are you going to get a team to find him?" Sasuke felt both a pang of guilt and remorse. Guilt because Naruto went with the two ninja so Sasuke would be spared. While it angered Sasuke, it also made him thankful. His body still felt weak thinking of the power his brother's blows did to his body. He felt remorse because despite all of the aid from the medical nin and Naruto's own demand that Sasuke fill out his ambition to restore his clan first, Sasuke still wanted to chase after his brother.

Mito Gai immediately started walking to the front door. Sasuke stood where he was. He turned to Gai after a moment of thinking. "I am not going. The old man needs to tell me a few things."

Gai looked at the boy. "This isn't open to negotiation; we both need to return to Konoha now."

Sasuke felt his resolve strengthen. "I am not going."

Jiraiya opened the door to his room. He was fully dressed, but there was a small bandage over his forehead. "Gai, get going. I will take care of Uchiha Sasuke." Gai gave a look he wanted to argue. "Go Mito! Naruto won't have much time." Gai nodded immediately and jumped out of the window and exiting the city at break neck speeds towards Konoha.

Sasuke looked at the old man. Jiraiya gave an aggravated grunt. "Damn brats. Come on then, we are behind schedule."

Sasuke followed the older man. He wondered what he had gotten himself into.

Jiraiya still flinched when he looked to his left. He knew that he should have rested like he originally planned, but he also knew that if he did he would likely require to answer questions the new brat would ask. Sasuke glared at the man for the first few hours. He had wondered why the man did not just go after his brother and the other guy.

The two traveled through the night. After seven hours of intense running, Sasuke felt a respect for the old man. Sasuke still had no idea who the man was. He just knew that he was Naruto's trainer. The old man was grim since he first met him. Sasuke wondered how Naruto could not become a little disciplined and serious after training under the man. But that thought always came back to the last few minutes Naruto spoke to him. _Maybe he did…_

Jiraiya waved his hand and they both slowed down as they approached a town at sunrise. "My mission was to track a woman named Tsunade. The mission is S ranked." Sasuke let his head jerk to the old man. He gave a humorless laugh. "Relax. One of the reasons it was over was because of Naruto himself." Sasuke thought of his brother looking for his teammate. "The other…" Sasuke looked back up to the man. "Is to find the woman Tsunade and convince her to become the next Hokage." Jiraiya walked faster and entered into the town. Sasuke sped to catch up still trying to understand how important the mission was. Sasuke had wondered during the night run, why this man who was Naruto's teacher, let him go with out just forgetting the mission. Now that he understood, he still didn't like it.

"Tsunade is a gambler. We will be lucky if we find her tonight, if not I will look through the red light district for clues to what town she will be headed to." Sasuke nodded after the two had checked into a hotel.

Sasuke fell onto his mat glad he could rest. He was soaked in cold dried sweat. He saw the man was sitting. Sasuke knew this was the time to ask his questions. Exhaustion left him quickly as he took a spot on the floor to sit across from him. The man just ignored him.

-o-

Jiraiya walked into the small room and loudly made a few greetings to the sullen boy. When Sasuke didn't answer back, Jiraiya turned to the boy. Sasuke sat on the floor mat and glared at the old man. "You have been avoiding my questions all day. Naruto wanted me to know something. It was the reason why my brother wanted him. Why?"

Jiraiya scratched his head and sighed. "I actually just found out today." Sasuke looked surprised. Jiraiya smirked at the boy. "What do you think I have been doing all day, enjoying women?" Sasuke just stared at the man not daring disagree. Jiraiya kept his serious face for another three seconds before he bursts out laughing. "Well I have been doing that too." Sasuke felt his shoulder slump. The Uchiha's glare returned in full force. Jiraiya just waved the look off. "My informants are mostly women. Any way, Naruto..."

Jiraiya went to the other room and pulled out the heated water Sasuke had heated for the boys' tea. Jiraiya knelt in front of the table and set the kettle. "Naruto was born under a curse." Sasuke looked at the man skeptically. "The day Naruto was born was the same day that the Kyuubi was reaching the outermost villages near Konoha. Demons in general are pretty much harmless unless provoked. But they also, by their very nature destroy anything in their way to continue their path. Konoha was in its way."

Sasuke didn't understand something. "If it was going through Konoha and you couldn't deter it since it was such a mighty demon, why not just make everyone evacuate the village?"

Jiraiya nodded in agreement. "And we had planned to do it. But we had an unforeseen intrusion. Orochimaru." Jiraiya felt himself lost in the memory. He shook himself after a moment and looked directly at Sasuke for the first time. His voice was challenging the young boy. "Orochimaru had already left the village before the Kyuubi attacked. But with his ambitions, he wanted to find a way to harness the power of the demon. I don't know what exactly he did, but it angered Kyuubi. Actually you could probably go and see the village he was over when Kyuubi was attacked. All it is now is a crater in the forest. Nothing grows there." Sasuke looked at his tea while Jiraiya poured himself another. After a long pause Jiraiya continued. "The Kazama Clan responded to the attack with the Fourth as their leader. A Hokage is supposed to sever their ties to whatever clan they hailed from, but the Kazama Clan never did let go of their favorite son. Down to a single woman the Clan died during the first skirmish."

Sasuke looked at the man carefully. "Skirmish?"

Jiraiya smiled faintly. "The Kyuubi had only used his claws and tails to kill the clan. The following fights he used his chakra to control the weather, the earth, even our very hearts. It was truly terrifying to fight him. The more successes we had, the angrier it became. People could feel the murderous intent from the Capital of Fire Country. Many ninja had simply lost their will to continue to fight and died quickly. Tsunade, The Fourth and I had dug through Orochimaru's notes about sealing and found something that Orochimaru ignored. Self sacrifice. In three hours, we three created a jutsu to make a deal with shinigami. The seal was strong enough even to ensnare a demon. But the problem was if the Fourth sealed it within himself, the village would be left with a large hole in their power. Just loosing a Kage at the time could very well give the other villages an excuse to attack and wipe out Konoha."

Jiraiya paused and looked at Sasuke. The boy was sitting at attention listening intently. Jiraiya gave a small smile. "There were three Kazama's left alive, a young mother, her unborn baby and the Hokage himself. When the Baby was born, the mother died giving birth leaving only two. Hokage immediately understood that he had no other choice in the matter of choosing a host when the Kyuubi woke up late at night and moving towards Konoha. I cut the baby's umbilical cord and walked towards a small temple Tsunade created with the Hokage's last living student, Hatake Kakashi." Sasuke jerked his head towards the mans' eyes. Jiraiya's smile widened slightly. "Yes, your sensei. We set the boy on the altar and we three started the preparations for the sealing jutsu. None of us had ever thought we would be condemning the boy to live a life of hatred. When the Fourth arrived his body was dieing and he simply placed his hand against the boy's belly while we completed the transfer of the sacrifice jutsu. The baby lived, now the living container to the demon and the Fourth died."

"The boy grew knowing the name Uzumaki Naruto, never knowing the amazing task placed on him the day he was born." Sasuke nodded in acceptance of this truth. He had felt his teammates amazing power several times. Each time left the boy stronger. Before he knew it the drop out Naruto had caught up to him. And it left him wondering why he did not grow just as fast if he was the much-flaunted genius. Now he knew. Naruto was a demon container. The replacement of the fourth. And it was the reason his brother wanted his teammate.

Sasuke sat there thinking. Jiraiya stood and took away the cups and kettle. When he returned he had a small bottle of sake and two drinking dishes. He handed one to Sasuke. Sasuke looked at it before nodding. "There is more isn't there, you said you didn't know what they were up to until today." Sasuke reached for the small bottle and poured himself a dish. He eyed the drink wearily never having indulged in the adult drink before. He took a slow sip and nodded, bitter but satisfying.

Jiraiya took his dish in one go before pouring himself another. "I had already sent word to Konoha, so it is up to them now, But... The group your brother belongs to is called the Akastuki. It is an organization of S-class criminals. I had found that several other demons had disappeared in recent years. Along with the mist's demon container who was ready to die of old age." Sasuke looked up and knew he wouldn't like where this was going.

"The Akastuki seems to have collected the demons one after another. The summer solstice is in ten days. What ever they are planning to do will happen then. But I think they are extracting the demons from the containers and holding the other ones in prisons for their own use. For what I still don't know."

"What happens when Naruto is parted from his demon?"

Jiraiya took another drink. "The demon has been apart of him since the day he was born, if it was removed, Naruto would die."

Sasuke felt his eyes blacken out for a second stunned from the news. "We can't go and help him can we."

Jiraiya nodded. "We have our mission."

Sasuke stared at his dish unsure what he felt. He looked up again and saw a frustrated man. "Damn it!" Jiraiya threw his dish across the room and it broke against the doorframe. "This is the second time! I knew Arashi would make an amazing Kage. He had the drive and will. He died at least knowing he succeeded as Hokage. But Naruto..." Sasuke watched the man unsure why he felt the same. The dobe had been an annoying teammate. A constant shadow that pushed him to go harder. A rival? Yes, a rival.

Jiraiya ignored the boys' thoughts and continued his rant. "He wasn't as charismatic as Arashi, but damn it! He had the same drive, the thirst to prove himself. The village may have disliked him, some even hated him, but he loved the village. That was the only real requirement to be a truly great Hokage." Jiraiya slumped in his sitting position. "Hey, Uchiha." Sasuke looked at the man again tearing away from his own thoughts. "I offered to tell Naruto what happened the day he was born. You know what he said? He told me 'I don't want to know. Too many people live in the past. I am happy enough living in the present.'" Jiraiya scowled at his own sentimentality. Sasuke thought of what Naruto said to him in that hallway.

"Naruto knew didn't he?" Jiraiya looked at the boy questioningly. "Naruto knew he would die going with them. He did it to save me." Jiraiya nodded.

When the old man saw the sky outside he sighed. "Get some sleep gaki. I found all we could in this town. We'll move out tomorrow." Sasuke nodded still stunned over the information, but still having hope that there was someone who could save his rival.

-o-

Twenty jounin. It was unheard of to have so many ninja on one assignment short of a invasion. The highest of the elite ninja in the village left four days ago and had traveled quickly after finally tracking the traitorous Uchiha's sent. The group had agreed to take minimal rest periods and the group had to be weary when the trail led them outside fire country. One had to be left behind at the capitol of Earth Country to explain what was transpiring. The Daimyo requested that the Stone village send aid in retrieving the boy from the S-class organization. They immediately followed. The Nineteen leaf Jounin were joined by fifteen stone Jounin and the returning leaf jounin on the sixth day. Many of the Stone ninja were nervous at hunting these men. An S-class ranked ninja is the equivalent of one who could fight a Kage. The news of the recently killed Hokage, slain by an S-class missing Nin had placed the stone ninja on edge. The leaf Jounin did nothing to dispel their anxiety only. They knew what they would find going into this mission. But the sacrifice for their success was worth it.

On the seventh day, they passed near the border of the Sand. Twenty Sand Shinobi stood there waiting. The leaf ninja had not known it, but the manhunt had become news. Among the Sand jounin a single red haired boy stood calmly watching the leader Jounins as they exchanged information. The number of people who knew Naruto on this mission went from two to three.

It was half a day later when Gaara heard the story of how he was capture, or rather how he had surrendered. Gaara nodded in understanding. Naruto was still upholding his pledge to protect his precious people.

-o-

Sasuke stayed silent the rest of the trip through the next city. He had wondered before how they were going to fill the Hokage position. Now he knew.

The black haired boy looked up when Jiraiya-sama gave a relieved grunt. Sasuke watched the back of the legendary ninja and couldn't help but be impressed. The man uses women as his spy network and could easily find what was going on in an entire city by spending a few hours at a bowery. Sasuke let his feet hit the steps in a light tap while they walked down into the valley. The city had filled the base of the small hole in the ground. Sasuke had to smirk at the thought of Naruto's reaction. Sasuke doubted that Naruto would be impressed with the man. And probably call him something embarrassing just to spite the white haired man. Sasuke let the thoughts of Naruto go. It was still a touchy subject. It was the fifth day Jiraiya said they would wait in each down a full day to send a messenger bird to the council to inform them if they had recovered his student.

Sasuke and Jiraiya separated after securing a room to sleep in. Sasuke went to the small festival he spotted when they entered town and watched others while they enjoyed themselves. He resisted the urge to scowl when he saw three kids his age running across the festival. The two boys were dragging the girl to a game booth. The group reminded him a little too much of his team. Sasuke gave an exasperated sigh. It has been eight days.

-o-

Naruto opened his eyes and sighed at the look Uchiha Itachi was giving him. "So I am not dead yet huh?"

Itachi turned away. It was Naruto's cue to follow the missing Nin. Naruto stood from his bench he had been sleeping on and walked slowly through the halls. His wrist and ankles were still sore from the bindings the Akastuki had placed on him. He had been thrown into a cell deep inside a cave days ago, but he still heard the hushed arguments right before the door to his prison opened, he had not heard of the other members before but he knew there must be more. It was not the other man who had spoke to the eldest Uchiha. His thoughts were confirmed when he saw several men surrounding a dais. The room they were in now was the remains of a burrowed cavern hollowed to a hundred feet tall done. The statues that circled the room faced the center, but Naruto saw there were still several spaces where other statues would have likely been standing sooner or later.

Naruto moved forward and stood in the circle. Eight men did the same sign and Naruto felt the seal Itachi placed over his Kyuubi seal vanish. Naruto inhaled before closing his eyes. He found himself deep within his mind with the gate of the Fox in front of him. Something stirred at the entrance of the gate. Naruto waited a moment but there was no voice.

"Hey fox. This is it for me. You can take your chances with the Akastuki or help me die taking as many as I can. There is no difference. I am still going to die."

The gate was silent, but Naruto could see the ocean of chakra right against the edge. The fox was silent and Naruto smiled faintly. He walked up to the gate and passed through the bars. He passed an enormous claw that belonged to the demons paw and kept walking until he saw the Demon's eyes looking at him.

Kyuubi saw the boys' resolution and the whiskers of his mouth moved. **They do not need me, just my chakra.** Naruto nodded. He felt chakra engulf him like steaming water. He inhaled it and looked at the Kyuubi already knowing what he has to do. **Let's see how long your body lasts before we die.**

Naruto opened his blood red eyes. The Akastuki members stood still seemingly expecting the outcome. Itachi moved forwards ready to subdue the boy. The Uchiha eyes turned into the advanced Sharingan. He stopped his movement when a tail of Chakra sprouted from the Naruto's back. Not a fraction of a second later it broke into three. Naruto's whiskers turned black and slowly expanded to cover his face. Kisame joined his partner. He gripped his sword, preparing to take away the boys' chakra. When he raised his sword, Naruto roared before two more tails split. The solidifying chakra covered the boy and a black snout growled at the Akastuki member who stood in a circle still performing their jutsu. Another tail split and the Fox opened its now red furred muzzle open while still growing to encompass the cavern. Blood rushed from the fox's mouth. Itachi's Sharingan could not see beyond the chakra coating but knew their plan failed. The amount of blood was the same as the boys' body could hold. "Cut off the extraction, we do not need it. The boy is dead. We just need to subdue the chakra."

The cave exploded and the group of missing Nins calmly watched the rebirth of the Kyuubi as pure chakra.

-o-

Several miles away fifty-five Jounin felt the burst of Chakra and moved faster now knowing where their target was. Several of the leaf jounin began to sweat. That chakra wasn't the chakra that was leaked during the Chuunin exam. They arrived minutes later on a ridge. The ground shook constantly and the group easily spotted an enormous mass of chakra tearing up the ground. The group continued their path ignoring the possibility of surprise. a single dead body was found in the middle amongst a dozen others standing with black robes.

The Akastuki glanced at the small army of ninja that assembled behind them. "Itachi, Kisame, Deidera. You three keep them busy, we will subdue the chakra." The remaining seven criminals disappeared. The mass of chakra was suddenly pushed into the air. The rescue team realized that the mass of chakra did have a form, but it was only a faint form of a fox.

Gaara walked ahead of the group of ninja while they were subtly signaling each other their orders. "I will take the man with the sword. I could care less about what you do with the rest. There is no Naruto." The group looked at him confused to his statement when obviously Naruto's chakra was fighting the other members of the Akastuki. Gaara ignored the confusion, disgusted that they did not understand.

"You will die a painful death for killing the one who saved me." Gaara raised his hand and sand flew from his body towards Kisame. The shark man laughed raising his sword with the intent of eating the boys' chakra. Gaara's sand encircled the sword. When the teeth of the blade started moving Gaara knew that Shukaku's chakra was slowly being consumed. Gaara's eyes widened slightly and he gave a smile to Kisame. "That was your first mistake." Gaara turned into sand. Kisame only had enough time to realize it before he was encircled in sand. He opened his mouth to shout but sand filled his mouth and nose. he gave a muffled scream when he felt sand pierce his ears. "Desert petrification." Kisame's struggling slowly stopped and when he didn't move anymore Gaara looked at the frozen sand statue of the man responsible for making Naruto sacrifice his life. "Desert Death March." The sand inside the mist Nin burst out in a long stream of sand and blood. Gaara walked towards the group of Akastuki members who were busy with the chakra. He had a long list of men to kill to avenge his savior.

-o-

Several members of the Akastuki dodged the burning chakra only to have it split from the paw that struck near them. Each member knew from their first dead member that they could not dodge in close proximity. The chakra only had the form of a fox. That didn't' mean it had to keep that form. Several members performed jutsu that lit the ground with black chakra. When three landed, one of them said, "We have ten more minutes before the chakra dissipates completely. I will try the artificial container jutsu. Give me twenty seconds." He immediately started his hands through seals. The others continued their assault on the chakra.

Gaara watched the scene and briefly wondered what would happen if he allowed Shukaku to come out, but decided it would be easier o fight himself. And he didn't want to leave avenging to his inner demon. Gaara raised his hand and dust slowly moved through the air. Two Akastuki members who were too occupied to notice felt a ring of sand trap their throats. They stopped moving to try and remove the collars but were quickly crushed by the claws of the chakra fox. The fox turned to the other forms that had chakra not stopped moving. It's enormous head looked around it counted the number dead, and there were still four more. The head looked up and saw one member of the Akastuki fall to him at terminal velocity. The missing Nins hand glowed a vibrant blue. Right before the ninja's hand touched the chakra fox, the chakra flew apart creating a hole in the fox's body and the man passed through. The man was undeterred and with the jutsu still active, performed Kage-bushin no jutsu. The several solidified clones moved back and fourth while the chakra fox's created holes in its body to allow the men to pass through it harmlessly.

Several tendrils of chakra burst from the walls of one of the holes. They snaked towards the man only to be dodged. A second later his ankle was snared from below the earth. The involuntary glance to the ground sealed his fate as another tendril behind him cut of the glowing hand and another pierced through his chest and moved up slicing his chest and skill cleanly. The surviving members knew they lost and one after another they fled. Itachi alone was still fighting. The jounin army fought him continuously with half their number already fallen. Itachi himself was slowly wearing down even after suspending many of them to illusions. His eyes no longer supported his Sharingan. It was because of this that he felt pressed against the ground by burning hot chakra. The men who had been fighting Itachi stopped and looked at the giant fox.

**He is not ours to kill**. The giant fox removed his paw. Itachi stood up and looked at the group before leaving. The fox fell to its knees and its body slumped to the earth. It slowly shrank while its body faded into wisps of air.

Gaara appeared in front of the fox. The sand ninja nodded his understanding. His blank face did not show emotion, but his voice was all that was needed to know the boys anguish. "There will always be those who will fight for their friends." Gaara was not able to say more as he had never understood the emotions before.

After several more moments the chakra mass was gone and Gaara turned towards the other ninja. "The mission was a failure, let's go home." It was only now that many of the ninja understood what had happened. Several jounin's severed Akastuki member's heads to take to their kages. The jounin army left. Each was wondering who the boy had to have been to be able to sacrifice his life to fight his captors. And who he had to have been to change the boy who had been known as the killer of the sand.

-o-

Sasuke was growing more frustrated. It had been the tenth day, and there was still no news. He had not been able to train. And to make maters worse, he was beginning to suspect that the Master Jiraiya was rubbing off on him. It was nothing at first, just the occasional glance at the bosomed women he brought to their room. It slowly turned toward looking at the girls his age and the sudden confidence that he could turn eyes. It wasn't vanity. He knew he was good looking since he had Sakura always drooling over him to the point of almost vowing never to marry. But it was likely thanks to her and her friends that he never really looked at girls in that way. Jiraiya had claimed he was a super pervert, and for the sake of the Uchiha clan's survival Jiraiya said he must turn Sasuke to the perverted side. And much against the boys dignity Jiraiya was completing his task beautifully.

Sasuke finally scowled loudly before he stood up jumped through the window. He really needed to get some fresh air. Through the late morning and well into the afternoon he wandered the town and saw the crowds around the temple gossiping.

"-they said it was a giant snake monster." Several men laughed at the retelling of the investigation.

"Didn't' matter what it was, we still have to repair the damage to the temple."

Sasuke listened from the roof. "A giant snake?" He looked in the direction of the fight and raced to the site. Several minutes later he looked around and saw nothing but crushed stone walls and the rubble of one of the temples. After another look through he spotted something. He jumped down from the wall he stood on and picked up a large flake. He eyes it closely. "It looks like a giant scale." His neck suddenly flared with pain. After the pain passed his thoughts were confirmed. "Orochimaru." His first impulse was to look for the man. He wanted to know why he had this seal. but after calming down he knew it was a foolish idea. He kicked the debris in frustration and jumped back towards the city. He stopped abruptly and saw Jiraiya chase after him. The man was breathing hard and Sasuke knew the man had news. "Naruto?"

Jiraiya shook his head. Sasuke lowered his gaze in understanding. "They were too late."

Jiraiya took the boys shoulder. "Let's get something to drink. I think we both need it." Sasuke let himself be led into a bar and looked up when he heard the old man inhale in surprise.

"Jiraiya!" Sasuke turned towards the young woman with a younger looking drinking partner. Jiraiya cursed loudly at having found the woman and Sasuke suddenly understood that the elder woman was Tsunade, the woman they were looking for.

When the two men sat at the table Jiraiya waved towards the waitress. "A bottle of sake and two dishes." the waitress looked at the young boy and saw the headband of a ninja. She nodded and left.

"He's a little young and the wrong gender. Who is he?" Jiraiya gave her a leveled look. She sobered slightly. "My apologies." Sasuke didn't pay attention. He just looked at the small dish in front of him before he took the sake and downed it in one swallow. The suddenness of the alcohol made him instantly woozy. He simply let the feeling take him. When he exhaled, he looked over to Jiraiya.

"What happened?"

"A twenty ANBU force went in pursuit seven hours after I gave Mito Gai the message." That got both Tsunade's and Shizune's attention. "Their pursuit led them through Earth Country and near Wind Country. Each of their countries hidden village sent ninja to aid their pursuit. After the Hokage's death, they all felt threatened of what an S-class missing Nin could do. A group of them were making everyone nervous."

"We are not sure what they were trying to do. But we do know that they failed. Naruto let the Kyuubi's chakra consume him." There was a sudden gasp for the two women. Sasuke sunk in his chair. He put a hand over his face while he regained composure. "The chakra gained enough animation to fight and kill several members of the Akastuki when the jounin army arrived. The army forced the Akastuki to divide their attention between the two threats. When one member of the Akastuki had died, the surviving members scattered. The Army had killed two members, one who had gone to fight them and another who was fighting the Kyuubi's chakra. There is one thing that happened you should know." Jiraiya took a dish and swallowed its contents. "It is an S-class secret is what the chakra did." Sasuke looked at the old man. "It prevented the killing of Uchiha Itachi." Sasuke felt a tear sting.

Sasuke looked at his dish. after he poured himself another drink he closed his eyes and sighed. Sasuke took another swallow of sake' and said softly to himself, "So even after he died he was still in there somewhere." Jiraiya nodded. He looked at Tsunade. She looked as if she had several questions but waited.

"The chakra said, 'He is not ours to kill'. He then let your brother go." Sasuke opened his eyes finally. There was no hint of sadness in the look. Jiraiya was about to say something to the boy's reaction but stopped when the boy took the bottle and placed it in front of him.

"I think I am going to need this bottle Jiraiya-sama." Jiraiya nodded and ordered another.

Tsunade watched the two men and after ten minutes of silence where they all ordered actual food, she finally asked. "Why were you looking for me?"

"The Sandaime is dead. Orochimaru killed him." Tsunade paused slightly. She poured and drank another plate of sake. She looked at the empty plate a moment. "The council has ordered me to find you so you may take the position as the Godaime Hokage."

The woman tensed. Sasuke looked at the pair of women when they exchanged glances at the mention of Orochimaru. Realization dawned on him. It was these two women who were the ones speaking to Orochimaru at the temple. He snapped out of his thoughts when the woman gave a cold-hearted laugh.

"Hokage? Why would I want a worthless title like that." Sasuke felt a lump form in his throat. Naruto's last words came to Sasuke's mind. He didn't it know it then, but now, Sasuke knew that Naruto saved him. He would have given anything to just gain power. Now he had a purpose for that power. And there were things he needed to prove to himself to earn that power. "The Title of Hokage is trash. Only a fool would-" Tsunade stopped speaking and caught the fist that was aimed to her temple. She looked at the boy and noticed that he was actually letting tears pass down his cheeks.

"Don't you ever let me hear you say that." The image of Naruto flashed through his mind. "You are not worthy of the title Hokage." Another image of he blonde boy hanging upside down screaming came to the Uchiha. "He gave everything knowing he would never be able to live his dream." Sasuke remembered the picture of his team that sat on his mantle. "He wanted to be Hokage." Sasuke heard his rivals' voice shouting his name. "He deserves to be called Hokage." Sasuke spat it all out in a rush not realizing he was on the table and breathing hard. "And I never want to hear you dishonor his name by saying his dream was trash."

The woman looked at the boys' eyes and had her curiosity satisfied that this boy was the survivor of the Uchiha massacre. She did not know what to say to the boy. But settled for a smirk. "Then the boy was an idiot if he thought he could just become Hokage." Sasuke threw his left fist and the woman caught his second fist and held them both in her strong arms. Sasuke struggled to free himself.

_She completely outclasses me._ He glared at her. Her smirk never left when she sat up. "You want to take this outside?"

Sasuke growled at her when she let go of his fists. "Gladly!"

The four ninjas walked outside. Jiraiya watched silently. He did not know the Uchiha at all despite the fact they were traveling with each other. This trip was supposed to be a trip to protect Naruto. Jiraiya let go of the thoughts and watched the Uchiha and his old teammate stand twenty paces away from each other. She raised a single finger. Jiraiya smirked. "One minute Tsunade?"

"No, I just need one finger to beat this brat."

Sasuke activated his Sharingan and darted forward. He ignored the stress his body had and ran as fast as he did during his training with Kakashi-sensei. When he reached her she smirked and flicked her finger. Sasuke just had enough time to fall to his knees and slide under her hand but not before his headband was sent flying. He reached and grabbed her extended arm. He pulled himself to her height and sent a kick towards the woman's face. Tsunade simply snapped her wrist and forced Sasuke to let go before she moved her hand to flick his forehead.

Sasuke was thrown back by more weight than he thought a single finger could generate. He flipped around and landed heavily against a stone wall. His body stuck to the wall and he looked at the woman who mocked Naruto's dream.

Tsunade looked at the boy with interest. "Why does it matter to you if he wanted to be Hokage?"

Sasuke walked towards the ground and gathered his chakra make himself faster. He looked at her and smirked at her interest. "Because he made it my dream to become Hokage."

Sasuke ran at twice the speed of the first charge and dodged Tsunade's first sweep of the arm. But the second attack from her finger hit him squarely on the forehead. He was thrown back across the street landed in a high arc on the roof. Jiraiya sighed when the boy was no longer moving.

"He isn't my student you know." Jiraiya jumped onto the roof and picked up the unconscious boy. Jiraiya looked at the mass of the young ninja and gave a weak laugh. Tsunade looked up at him. Jiraiya looked down from the roof. "It's just funny. Naruto was my student, but now that he is gone, I wonder who this boy will choose as his teacher. Me or Orochimaru." Jiraiya jumped to the ground next to his ex-teammate and turned to walk away.

Tsunade gripped his shoulder. "What do you mean?"

Jiraiya moved the boys collar. Tsunade saw the cursed seal. When she looked up to Jiraiya she said in a weak voice. "Arashi's legacy really is gone isn't he?"

Jiraiya nodded. "He surrendered himself to save his teammate. I was worried for a while about Sasuke. But Naruto seems to have saved him from his own ambition even after his death. It is ironic, since I wanted Naruto to come on this mission to try and save you." Jiraiya bid Shizune goodnight before he started walking again.

"Jiraiya!" The old man turned towards his first teammate. "I'll think about it, you will have my answer in a few days." Jiraiya nodded again before walking away.

-o-

The days passed by quietly. Sasuke had kept to himself and retrained himself during the day. He felt Tsunade's power first hand and knew understood instinctively that his own small frame could match that power. He had vowed that he would become Hokage and he needed to start to retrain himself. He forgot the Uchiha way of fighting. He had not used his Sharingan once while retraining his fighting style and was glad his stamina kept him going longer with out relying on his eyes. There was one move he performed while training, and he hoped that Naruto would forgive him for learning it through the Sharingan.

"Kage bushin no jutsu." Three clones stared at each other before they all moved to fight the original Sasuke. It was after the first brawl that Sasuke realized how much he relied on his blood limit and the comfort that his cursed seal gave him. His resolve to never use the seal again strengthened during the week.

During the night was another story. Sasuke soon found himself getting familiar with the local bartenders and the wonders of sake'. During his stumbling walks home every night he never noticed the shadow Tsunade cast when she followed him from her own drinking. Shizune had told her of how hard the boy trains during the day. And she saw for herself that the Uchiha mourns his teammate at night. She silently admitted to herself that he is stronger than her. When she left Konoha, Tsunade could not cope with her brother, or her lovers lost. She simply drank. This boy drank as well, but he still continued to live his life. Tsunade wondered about Orochimaru's offer. He had appeared to her and offered to resurrect her brother and lover in exchange to heal his arms. Tsunade wondered how Orochimaru would react when he saw the Uchiha she has seen every single night that week.

Tsunade sighed when she the Sasuke boy enter his hotel. She knew the due date for her answer was tomorrow. Tsunade smiled and turned to Jiraiya who was behind her.

The next morning Sasuke had just returned from his morning exercise to wash up when he saw Jiraiya laying sprawled on the ground. "A little early for getting drunk isn't it Jiraiya-sama?"

Jiraiya gurgled out, "TSu-nade and her drinnnkssss." Sasuke looked at the older man and swore. The Uchiha ran out the third story window and landed his feet on the adjacent building. He ran up it and jumped over two roofs and landed three blocks away in front of Tsunade and Shizune's hotel room.

Sasuke burst into the room and found Shizune sitting and reading. "I think your boss did something stupid. Can you help me with Jiraiya-sama?" Shizune paled a second before she stood up to follow running Uchiha.

-o-

Tsunade watched the stone wall crumble under her hand. "Orochimaru. I decline your offer."

Orochimaru chuckled darkly before nodding to his aid's assessment of the situation. They both broke into a run towards open ground and away from others who would interfere with their fight. Several minutes of running Orochimaru turned to his aid. "Kabuto. This is far enough."

"Hai Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto turned and pulled a kunai from his pouch just as Tsunade caught up to them. "You should have accepted Orochimaru-sama's offer. But at least now I can see how my abilities stack up to yours." Tsunade dashed forwards constantly breaking the ground underneath her with ever step. When she reached two meters within Kabuto's range she let one knee hit the ground and slid towards Kabuto. Kabuto jumped out of the way. Tsunade looked at the young man and used her free leg to kick the ground before her into the air. The large chunk of rock flew strait towards the silver haired teen.

Kabuto extended his arm towards the flying boulder to try and rebound off of it. His face changed from calm to surprised. Kabuto snarled out in exertion when he forced his body out of the way of the over sized projectile. When he landed he looked at his left arm that fell limply to his side. After a second of evaluation he knew he had to work faster. He dodged a fist from the older woman and jumped back several paces before concentrating his chakra to his right hand. Kabuto moved his now glowing chakra fused hand to his broken one for several seconds before it could moved properly. Tsunade rushed her attack. Kabuto made several narrow escapes while he gripped his half functioning hand into four seals. With quick sweeping motions he healed most of his arm to restore movement. With both arms working Kabuto pulled out two Kunai.

Tsunade continued pressing her attack eager to get this boy out of the way. When she was in range, Kabuto sliced his two kunai's in tight arcs. Tsunade caught the first hand only to be stabbed by the second. She gasped in pain and glared at Kabuto in the eye. _Don't look. Don't look. Don't look at the blood._ The mantra continued in her head as she gripped Kabuto's hand.

_Krunch Crack_

Kabuto grunted at the sounds of his broken arm. Tsunade pulled back her arm to give the final blow. Kabuto pulled the Kunai from her arm and splashed blood onto her face. She gasped as haunted memories flooded her. It was only by constant drill that her body completed the blow in a weakened punch.

Kabuto felt his face warp around sannin's fist and fly across the field. Tsunade collapsed in a half cry now no longer able to ignore the blood that covered her face and arms. "Kukuku, Tsunade, still not able to recover from your hemophobia. It is a pity you have to die here." Orochimaru titled his head back and opened his mouth wide. A snake moved out of his mouth and opened its own revealing a sword. With a great arc of his back Orochimaru slammed the sword down at Tsunade.

The ensuing clang forced Orochimaru to reevaluate his situation. He jumped back adn swallowed his sword. "Hello Jiraiya. You even brought my student with you. How fortunate." Tsunade still sat in a quiver heap behind a enormous armored frog.

"You have gone far enough Orochimaru." Jiraiya moved between his former teammates. Shizune immediately rushed to her teachers aid. Sasuke remained at Jiraiya's side. He had never expected to meet Orochimaru so soon.

"That is funny coming from you Jiraiya." Orochimaru turned his yellow eyes to Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun. I promised you more power, has my seal lived up to your expectations?"

Sasuke remembered the last time he met the sannin and shivered at the memory. He looked levelly at the snake sennin. "No I did not. I think I can grow stronger on my own."

Orochimaru lost his smirk. "Do you seriously believe that anyone else can teach you better? Surely you have come to realize that Konoha is a limiting environment."

Sasuke glared at the man. "I have made my choice." Sasuke pulled out a kunai and prepared himself to fight. Orochimaru lost the humorous look and looked angrily at the boy.

"Very well then." Orochimaru performed several seals. "Then suffer."

Sasuke gave a loud cry. He clutched his shoulder and could feel the curse seal burn. Jiraiya ran up to engage Orochimaru. "Let the boy go." Jiraiya ran after Orochimaru. Several of his hits connected to the snake sennin's body. Orochimaru was thrown into the air by another body blow. The pale faced man smirked and turned his head towards Jiraiya. Orochimaru extended his tongue to wrap around Jiraiya's neck. Seven kunai flew hitting the man's tongue. Orochimaru grunted in pain before retracting his tongue.

Sasuke pulled another of his kunai out of his pouch. His legs were weak and his right hand was still on his curse seal. Orochimaru laughed at the boy. "That pain will go away if you decide to join me Sasuke-kun. That seal is designed to give power. You have proven that you have what it takes to get that power."

Sasuke fell to his knees again and dropped his kunai. He glared at the man and let go of the seal. Sasuke gathered his strength and stood. "This is not the kind of power I want." Sasuke performed three seals and grabbled his left hand. Blue chakra formed at his hand. In a slow deliberate rotation of his arm he moved the Chidori to his neck and let it graze his seal. Blood from the self inflicted wound spurt for a second before the chakra from the Chidori cauterized it. Sasuke let go of the attack and collapsed again, this time in physical pain.

Orochimaru glared at the boy. "Fine. Then die! Uchiha Sasuke!" Orochimaru dashed at the boy with Jiraiya chasing after him. Sasuke raised his head and saw a sword fly at his chest. He tried to move, but his body failed to react.

Tsunade watched the fight as it unfolded. Her heart stopped when Sasuke collapsed in pain. When he was able to fight back despite the pain of his curse, it gave her a little of her strength back. Shizune stood next to Tsunade when Sasuke burned out he seal on his neck. When Orochimaru ran forward to kill he boy, Tsunade left her spot with out thinking and caught the blade letting it slice her hands. She gripped it and threw the sword and Orochimaru away from Sasuke.

Tsunade's hands quivered. She shook her hands free of the running blood and sprinted after Orochimaru. Tsunade continued hitting the man. Sasuke's pained form flashed through her mind _He gave everything knowing he would never be able to live his dream._

Tsunade felt her knuckles break skin when her fists connected with Orochimaru's jaw. 'Why am I fighting so hard?' Tsunade grabbed her ex-teammate by the throat and dragged him through the ground. Adrenaline pumped through her veins. 'Why does the boy motivate me like this?' Tsunade let Orochimaru's body roll for a second before she grabbed his ankle. She squeezed as hard as she could and slammed him repeatedly into the earth. _Because he made it my dream to become Hokage._

Tsunade suddenly let go of her enemy's ankle and let him roll on the ground. She gasped for air and she looked at Sasuke in wonder. 'Worthy of the name Hokage.'

The snake sannin slowly stood and swore at the turn of events. Orochimaru looked over and cursed Kabuto for only now recovering from Tsunade's attack. Orochimaru jumped and twisted his body to land next to his aid. "My arm Kabuto."

Kabuto cut his hand and spread a length of blood across Orochimaru's tattooed arm. The hiss echoed the plains. Manda moved out of the summoning smoke and looked at Jiraiya. "**You summoned me for this?"**

"I will offer you a large amount of sacrifices when I return to the Sound." Orochimaru said with a smug voice. The snake just gave a humph before turning his tail down at the specks below him.

Jiraiya grabbed a hold of Sasuke and pulled him away. Shizune and Tsunade cleared the first attack. "Shizune, take care of Sasuke." Tsunade bit her thumb and went through several seals.

Jiraiya handed Sasuke over to the young teen and prayed he could pull off the summoning technique after the drug Tsunade gave him the previous night. He passed through several hand seals. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

Jiraiya was relieved when he found himelf standing on Gamabunta's head. Tsunade looked over to her two teammates from on top of Katsuyu. "This will be the last time there will be sannin."

Gamabunta took a long drag from his pipe. "**It is a little late for a reunion Jiraiya**."

Jiraiya snickered. "Baka."

Manda coiled and darted strait towards Katsuyu. The gigantic slug released a acid mist before Manda could wrap himself around her. Jiraiya performed several seals. "Gamabunta, I need oil." The frog king inhaled and spat out a long string of oil. "Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu." Manda was pincered between the slow moving acid cloud and the stream of fire. Seconds after the fire dissipated Gamabunta and Jiraiya realized they hit the snakes skin shed.

Tsunade turned in time to see Manda encircling her summon and squeezing Katsuyu. "**Tsunade-sama**!" Tsunade jumped from the slug right before it burst into smaller versions of itself. Tsunade landed on top of Manda's head and charged after Orochimaru. Kabuto moved infront of his master only to be tossed aside by Jiraiya who leapt off of Gamabunta's head. Both senior ninja's gave two blows to the teenager before Tsunade grabbed him and tossed him like a rag doll. Orochimaru jumped to avoid the double punch from his ex-teammates and landed at the tip of Manda's head.

He laughed darkly. "Here Manda, your first two sacrifices." Orochimaru jumped from the snakes head right before Manda flicked his head. Tsunade and Jiraiya were tossed into the air with Manda poised to eat them from mid-air. Gamabunta threw his short sword at teh snake causing Manda to dodge and miss his opportunity. Katsuyu caught both summoners.

Orochimaru stood on the ground. He placed his foot on top of the down form of his aid Kabuto. At the moment Orochimaru was about to retreat he dodged several poison needles. He turned to his right and saw a very nervous teenage girl. His eyes narrowed when he realized he didn't see the Uchiha brat. He heard the sounds of birds chirping before he realized it was coming from below him. Sasuke broke through the ground with his chidori skimming across the mans abdomen. Sasuke turned his red eyes towards the old man. "You bastard."

Orochimaru still did not understand the change of heart. "You were a beautiful piece of art Sasuke-kun. How did you become so warped in such short time."

Sasuke looked at the man. "Having your dream change can do that for a person." Sasuke pushed all of the chakra he had into his feet dimly aware that Tsunade and Jiraiya were shouting at him, and that all three summons were dismissed. "Don't think I forgot what you did to Naruto." Sasuke closed the gap between them. Orochimaru used his knees and shins to exchange blows while looking over towards Kabuto who slowly was coming back into consciousness. Orochimaru was forced to come back to the fight when he felt four punches connect repeatedly to his stomach.

Orochimaru looked at the boy who was suddenly moving far faster than the old man had expected of Sasuke. When Sasuke looked at him, Orochimaru smirked. Sasuke's red eyes had three coma's in his eyes completing his dojutsu. _So you finally mastered the Sharingan._

Orochimaru felt another fist connect to his face before being slammed back. He looked behind the Uchiha and noticed that the other two sannin were behind him. He gave a sneer at the four ninja that were surrounding him. Smoke burst at Orochimaru's feet and he gave the group a parting smile before he sank into he earth. Sasuke turned to his left and saw Kabuto performing the last of his seals before he burst into a cloud of smoke and retreated.

Sasuke slumped his shoulders. He looked at his collarbone and his shoulder shuddered. The scar at the base of his neck was a perfect circle of pink flesh thanks to the help of Shizune. Sasuke tried to turn to look at Tsunade and Jiraiya but finally collapsed from exhaustion.

-o-

Sasuke woke up two days later in front of a new Kage, a perverted old man and a anxious teenager. When they were ready, the group returned to Konoha. When the group arrived in the village Sasuke looked around at the village he was now promising himself he would protect. Children laughed. Adults shopped. The old men and women played board games. The news of Uzumaki's death went through the village with a grudging respect. The village was old of his sacrifice to save Sasuke, and many remembered his fight with Neji during the Chuunin exams. Sasuke himself only ran across a few who were disrespectful and each of them were on the receiving end of the Uchiha's wrath.

There was one thing that Sasuke had not thought of during his long trip. He turned down a street in a residential district and heard her silent crying. Sasuke wanted to kick himself. Sakura.

Sasuke stood on a tree branch looking at his teammate. She was in her room at the window. Sasuke stretched his neck and he could see the picture of their team. After a moment of hesitation Sasuke called her. "Sakura."

Sakura turned her head to see who it was and quickly wiped dry her face. "Sa-Sasuke! What are you doing here?"

Sasuke jumped from his tree branch and landed inside the girls bedroom. He looked at the picture and at the formless tears in her eyes. "Something I should have done as soon as I got back." Sasuke sat with her and slowly told her of his journey. She nodded a few times, hiccupped tears at the last moments Sasuke talked to Naruto, and finally cried when Sasuke told her of how their teammate had died. Sakura clutched Sasuke's shirt with one hand and held the picture of their team close to her chest with the other.

"Sasuke-kun why did he have to die?" Sasuke looked at the girl at a loss for words. He had simply drank and trained to get rid of the extra stress. He never asked why Naruto died. It simply happened. After a second Sasuke placed an arm around the girl's shoulder.

"I don't know. But it wasn't in vain. Naruto did something that could have possibly turned out bad had everyone left the Akastuki alone. We can only think that it was not pointless." Sakura clutched the picture to her chest with both arms and leaned against her teammate. She finally looked at it and saw the smiling idiot. When she saw herself her teacher and Sasuke in the picture, she felt comfort that there were still two people she cared for who were alive. When Sakura looked at Sasuke she smiled weakly at him. Sasuke gave a small smile in return.

In the following days after the inauguration of the Hokage she stood in front of the towns people asking for the only thing she wanted to ask of the village. While there was muttering at first many of the village accepted the request as is.

"Then let us show our appreciation for Uzumaki Naruto. A single stone pillar that represented his unwavering determination, courage and love for this village of Konoha. It was because of this and the lessons he taught his teammate Uchiha Sasuke that I am here before you as your Hokage."

There was around of applause that became more enthusiastic when they knew that Naruto became the ninja many wanted to see protecting their village. A week later Sasuke looked at the stone pillar that sat on the opposite side of the Hero's memorial. On the stone pillar was a plaque.

_Friend, Savior, Hero_

_Container of the Demon Kyuubi_

_A man who lived the path of Hokage to his death_

Sasuke felt himself thinking back to his teams introduction to their sensei. Naruto had always been a brat but his dreams were never small. During Memorial Day Sasuke saw as many people bowing to the stone pillar as he did to the memorial stone on the same field. "Naruto, Everyone here has acknowledged your existence. Can you see them?"

--- The End ---

A/N: This story had been bouncing around my skull since December. It was not until March that I really wanted to write it, but with no time and finals coming up I had no real time to work on much of any of my stories. Now that it is the last day I will have internet for at least a month I wanted to finish this up and post it since I don't have a chapter of any of my other stories prepared. This was a long story that I tried to keep as a one shot, so forgive the jumping around. This story could easily have exceeded five chapters, but my lack of time and my desire to focus on the other two stories before I start a third project kept me from really writing this. Well now that is out of the way, I'll see everyone hopefully before mid June!


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